Regular Joe's Guide

Latest visit: Nov 2024 First visit: Mar 2021 The RJG's are back for our annual New Mexico trip! Way later than normal, or even originally planned. But we finally found a four day weekend that looked promising. We had another restaurant circled for our trip, but it was inexplicably closed. There was no explanation offered, though it didn't look permanent (we'll try it next time through). After reviewing a couple of more options, I decided that we return to Las Animas Grill, a place we went to once in the middle of the pandemic. That visit, only 3.5 years ago, was packed to the rafters with patrons. On this late morning, only a handful were here - inflation no doubt wiping out the regulars and curiosity seekers. Hopefully they can weather the storm. Despite an unenthusiastic general public, the cooks were ready to please. Mrs. RJG went for the smash burger, double meat and cheese (who was this woman I was dining with anyway?). She loved it, and reminded her of Wayback Burgers...

Latest visit: May 2023 (Colorado Springs - Interquest) First visit: May 2017 (North Richland Hills, TX) Back for another revisit of Slim Chickens. Two years ago our experience was no bueno, but last year's visit was much better. How did we fare this time? Somewhere in the middle I'm afraid. They opened over an hour late for some sort of malfunction, so we piddled around and arrived a few minutes later.  All seemed well upon entry. I stuck with the tried and true crispy chicken sandwich with fries. No issues on my side, mostly the same experience as last time. Mrs. RJG inexplicably went for their seasonal salad. Oh man, that was a bad choice. Backyard lettuce out of the bag, with tiny amounts of feta cheese, a few strawberries, and they were out of ranch dressing (how does that even happen?). They substituted vinaigrette which was decent, but not what she wanted. She should have shifted gears towards the tenders, but really the restaurant has an obligation to do their best with ...

Latest visit: Jul 2025 First visit: Jan 1994 ---7/6/25 update We're here a bit earlier than last year. Once again a wonderful blue sky summer Sunday at lunch, so we could get free parking right in front of the building. We started with the two chilies, mine pork, hers vegetarian. Mine was delicious but not enough temperature (again). I really should take the time to read my reviews before revisiting, so I make a note of this. This time Mrs. RJG's chili was no bueno. Watery and also not hot temperature. She didn't eat it. They did comp us for it, which was nice. The cold beers were excellent. I do like that they always have new ones to try, no matter how many years I've been going here. We each had burgers this time, hers a "classic" and mine was the bison burger. Both were excellent, cooked well done, and hot. I had the regular fries and added a sriracha mayo dipping sauce. She went with the sweet potato fries, not too much to her liking. Well a mixed review, ...

Latest visit: Mar 2022 (Colorado Springs - Chapel Hills) First visit: Mar 2021 (Colorado Springs - Chapel Hills) Time for our annual review, and happy to say First Watch passes with flying colors. For this visit I was joined by an old friend and former boss from the Castle Pines area. I'm sure I named him somewhere down the line, but Old Boss will have to do. I had the same thing as below. I could tell Old Boss enjoyed his meal as well. In addition to this visit, Mrs. RJG and I went to their Scottsdale, Arizona location last October while there for one of our Official Niece's wedding. We had 6 family members go, and we all enjoyed it! As of June 2021, First watch has 420 locations in 28 states. They have 10 Denver area restaurants and only this one locale in CoS. Rude Dante adds his thoughts from his recent Cincinnati venture: "A regional chain that seeks to out-hip Le Peep - and generally succeeds. Enjoyed a home-rolled omelet with fruit & sourdough toast, coffee, stu...

Latest visit: May 2025 (Briargate) First visit: Sep 2018 (Briargate) Founded: 2007 Other locations: 8th Street; Templeton Gap ---5/23/25 Noticed the pizza was hotter this time. Wasn't in the mood for the garlic knots but had two slices: One plain cheese, the other pepperoni. Also with a drink. Prices seemed to have gone up again. Stays in Rotation. ---6/2/24 Much later than usual for my first visit back to Joey's for the year. For this perfect Sunday at lunch, I stopped by and grabbed their two slices and two garlic knots with a drink special. The slices I chose were the Porky (or maybe it was Piggy like below) and Cheese (Regular...). All very good though I could have used more sauce this time. The garlic knots were a first for me. Very messy - and tasty. Here they offer their red as a dipping sauce. Excellent and makes you wonder why they are shy about using more. Joey's is as reliable as they come, and remains in the RJG Rotation. I'm sure I'll be back before the...

Last visit: Mar 2021 First visit: Mar 2018 May 7, 2022 update: Perhaps no surprise, but Silver Pond is now closed. As it turns out, Silver Pond was the first restaurant we went to on our return to Colorado Springs residency. Perhaps not technically, but on the day we flew in from Fort Worth, and spent the entire day looking at homes (and buying a new construction later in the day - are we crazy or what?), we were exhausted and ready to celebrate. You know Mrs. RJG, Asian food is going to be at the top of her want list. A quick online review suggested Silver Pond might be the place to go.  This is our first visit back, almost exactly 3 years later. Nothing has changed as my memory would have it. It's a very nice setting, placed neatly behind some pine trees blocking the ever busy Academy Road. It's a roomy restaurant, and it appears they have a back room for special events, with a separate entrance. Once seated in the booth, we ordered our customary glasses of chardonnay (oh how...

First visit: Feb 2021 The original plan was to eat at Perea's, one of our favorite restaurants in Albuquerque. They don't open until 8 in the morning, and we didn't feel like hanging around for an hour (plus whatever wait that may have been in store for us), so we bolted for home, with a planned stop a couple of hours north in Las Vegas to have brunch. We arrived at the chosen breakfast location, only to find out they were closed on Sunday (despite what it said online). A quick scan of Google Maps lead us to another place - that was closed for good. Obviously Las Vegas, New Mexico's Google Maps can use an update! While figuring out where to eat, Mrs. RJG noticed Smiling Faces right next door to where we were. Sounding more like a dentist office than a restaurant, I did some prompt research, and the reviews were excellent. And it's New Mexican food - which is what we were seeking. Awesome!  We walked into a very spacious restaurant and were promptly seated. Our waitr...

Academy near San Mateo. They also have a location in Elephant Butte. First visit: Feb 2021 Didn't get a chance to finish our impromptu trip back from Arizona. So after stuffing our faces at RelicRoad, we took the long - and somewhat boring - drive east towards Albuquerque on I-40. We arrived in the late afternoon, did a little bit of thrifting, and then it was dinner time. We didn't want anything too heavy, something along the lines of tacos y margaritas. We wanted to try a place called Craft Republic, but like our La Choza experience, we figured it was a long shot. And sure enough, with the very small capacities allowed by the Chancellor, we were looking at an hour wait. OK, we'll go next time. How about something less ambitious? Casa Taco came up on Google Maps, and we decided to try for it. Casa Taco is a counter service place, that seems to cater to a more gringo oriented crowd. And their offerings go beyond typical taqueria fare. This is exactly what we were looking fo...

Latest visit: Feb 2021 First visit: Feb 2020 As mentioned in the Thai Cafe (Prescott Valley) post, Thai food in Colorado Springs has been mostly a miss affair. But there are a couple we enjoy, including Arharn Thai. But not at the level of the aforementioned Thai Cafe, and certainly not what we left behind in NE Tarrant (Sea Siam, Sweet Basil, Magic Springroll, etc...). We keep hoping... Arharn Thai is a small-ish restaurant, very clean, and feels a bit more upscale. Because of the pandemic, they moved to counter ordering. And they then deliver the food to your table. On our one visit in the midst of all this crap, during the summer of 2020, Arharn made us feel like lepers. We had to register our entire medical history (OK, not really... but they did take some data down), they only had one table, everything was served on plastic trays, and people eyed us warily as they picked up their to-go orders. I told Mrs. RJG right then that I wasn't going out to a sit down restaurant again un...

Latest visit: Sep 2025 (Constitution @ Powers)  First visit: Feb 2010 (Flower Mound, TX) HQ: Prairie du Sac, WI (NW of Madison) ---9/5/25 update (Constitution) Culver's fell through the cracks this year. As my schedule continues to evolve around retirement, the location up north is the wrong place at the wrong time. Today I visited, for the first time, the location off of Powers. Not necessarily convenient either, but I took a break on where I was digging, and made the drive 15 minutes north for lunch. Nice restaurant with helpful service and clean restrooms. I've been laying off custards of late, so I went with a meal deal of a single Butterburger with cheese, fries, and a drink. For less than $9, not too bad really. The burger was hot and tasty, the Ora-Ida fries were crispy, and even the drink machine was operating perfectly. In this day and age where nothing works, it's nice to be able to get a burger and fries drama free. I probably should have ordered a double instead...